Żurakowski was born in 1914 to Polish parents in Ryżawka near Uman,[1] which had been a village in the Russian Empire since 1793, when it was removed from Poland in the Second Partition.

The new border placed Ryżawka in Soviet territory, so the Żurakowski family left their home and escaped into the newly established Polish Republic.

[citation needed] Żurakowski was originally posted to a fighter unit in France before he was selected to train as a bomber pilot in England.

Once he arrived in England, the RAF changed its mind and sent him and the first group of Poles to fighter squadrons, which were rapidly being deployed in anticipation of an attack on Britain in 1940.

234 Squadron initially stationed at RAF St Eval, Cornwall, a town named after the patron saint of flight testing.

Following a brief training period, he proceeded to land the Supermarine Seafire, a navalised Spitfire, on the deck of HMS Ravager without incident.

While still at Boscombe Down, Żurakowski flew over 30 different types of aircraft, including the Vampire, the de Havilland Hornet, and the Gloster Meteor.

Acknowledged as one of the best aerobatic pilots in the UK, he gave a spectacular display at the Farnborough Airshow in June 1946 with the Martin-Baker MB 5, a piston-engined fighter designed too late to enter war production.

He broke the sound barrier on 18 December 1952 as a first pilot in Canada, diving the CF-100 fighter, the first straight-winged jet aircraft to achieve this feat.

While testing an experimental rocket pack on 23 August 1954, Zura survived an explosion that killed his observer, John Hiebert.

During the Avro Canada years, Żurakowski continued to fly as an aerobatic display pilot with spectacular results.

The five flying examples and the newly constructed RL-206 (slated for a run at world air speed and altitude records) along with all the assorted factory jigs and tools were broken up.

During this period, he resorted to his engineering background, "tinkering" with a number of sailboats, catamarans, and ice boats of his own design and construction.

He was further honoured in 1996 by the Royal Canadian Mint's release of a commemorative coin, the Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck, which featured an insert of Janusz Żurakowski.

On 23 July 1999, CFB Cold Lake (Alberta) Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment named its new facility, the "Żurakowski Building".

In September 2000, he became an honorary fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, joining the ranks of Charles Lindbergh, Neil Armstrong, and Igor Sikorsky, among numerous other luminaries.

A future museum and visitor's commemorative centre consisting of a gazebo and display area will be located at Żurakowski Park.

The former Gloster Aircraft company airfield site at Brockworth has become a residential area in Gloucester, UK and has a Zura Avenue.